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Monday, August 11, 2014

Texas Tick Causes Meat Allergy


A tick bite can make you allergic to red meat


An adult female deer tick (L), dog tick and Lone Star tick are shown in the palm of a hand.  GETTY IMAGES


A bug can turn you into a vegetarian, or at least make you swear off red meat. 


Doctors across the nation are seeing a surge of sudden meat allergies in people bitten by a certain kind of tick.

This bizarre problem was only discovered a few years ago but is growing as the ticks spread from the Southwest and the East to more parts of the United States.

In some cases, eating a burger or a steak has landed people in the hospital with severe allergic reactions.

Few patients seem aware of the risk, and even doctors are slow to recognize it.
 As one allergist who has seen 200 cases on New York's Long Island said, "Why would someone think they're allergic to meat when they've been eating it their whole life?"
The culprit is the Lone Star tick, named for Texas, a state famous for meaty barbecues. The tick is now found throughout the South and the eastern half of the United States.

Researchers think some other types of ticks also might cause meat allergies; cases have been reported in Australia, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Japan and Korea.


Here's how it happens: 
The bugs harbor a sugar that humans don't have, called alpha-gal. The sugar is also is found in red meat - beef, pork, venison, rabbit - and even some dairy products. It's usually fine when people encounter it through food that gets digested.
But a tick bite triggers an immune system response
, and in that high-alert state, the body perceives the sugar the tick transmitted to the victim's bloodstream and skin as a foreign substance, and makes antibodies to it. That sets the stage for an allergic reaction the next time the person eats red meat and encounters the sugar.
At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, "I see two to three new cases every week," said Dr. Scott Commins, who with a colleague, Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, published the first paper tying the tick to the illness in 2011.
Allergic reactions can be treated with antihistamines to ease itching, and more severe ones with epinephrine. Some people with the allergy now carry epinephrine shots in case they are stricken again.

Doctors don't know if the allergy is permanent.
 Some patients show signs of declining antibodies over time, although those with severe reactions are understandably reluctant to risk eating meat again. Even poultry products such as turkey sausage sometimes contain meat byproducts and can trigger the allergy.



Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-tick-bite-can-make-you-allergic-to-red-meat/

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Whale Shark

Catch of the Day: Whale Shark


A fisherman transports a dead whale shark after it was caught in fishermen's net, in Yangzhi county, Fujian province, August 1, 2014. REUTERS-Stringer

A fisherman transports a dead whale shark after it was caught in fishermen's net, in Yangzhi county, Fujian province, August 1, 2014. 
REUTERS/Stringer




Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Filosofizing Frank

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra



The Way You Wear Your Hat (1997)

The Way You Wear Your Hat : Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin' (1997) by Bill Zehme
  • I'm supposed to have a Ph.D. on the subject of women. But the truth is I've flunked more often than not. I'm very fond of women; I admire them. But, like all men, I don't understand them.
  • For years I've nursed a secret desire to spend the Fourth of July in a double hammock with a swingin' redheaded broad ... but I could never find me a double hammock.
  • Fear is the enemy of logic.
  • The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.
  • [On religion] I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, benzedrine or a bottle of Jack Daniel's.


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Walking is man's best medicine. - Hippocrates



Toronto doctor's 'magic pill' goes viral - Toronto - CBC News
:
CBC News
Posted: Jan 11, 2012

An illustrated video with a simple message about health has received more than a million hits on YouTube, much to the delight of the Toronto doctor who created it.
"My bankability with teenagers has increased significantly," Dr. Mike Evans told CBC News on Wednesday.

Evans is a doctor at St. Michael's Hospital and professor at the University of Toronto. People all over the world are linking to his month-old video from Facebook and Twitter.

Evans says his message — to complete a half-hour of exercise every day — is like a magic pill to cure aches and pains.

"I've got a pill that's going to help with your arthritis, help with your depression, help with your anxiety, help with your obesity, help prevent cancer," he said.

The video cites studies from the world, including research that shows even overweight people have fewer health problems when active.




Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Eternal Now


Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything. 

 - Mother Teresa



Monday, October 3, 2011

Knowledge without action pays few dividends.



"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it." 

- Samuel Johnson